Knowledge base

Self-service support

iOS location tracking

April 02, 2020 00:24

This article describes the Miradore location tracking feature for iOS that can be used by the Business and Enterprise Plan customers. If you're interested about location tracking, consider upgrading your subscription. See more in How to upgrade Subscription for more information.

When location tracking is enabled, the Miradore Client is installed from the App Store to managed iOS devices and starts to collect location information. For non-supervised iOS devices the end-user must accept the installation.

The Miradore Client is a supplementary client for iOS management features and it can only be used in conjunction with Miradore. Do not install the client manually from the App Store or do not deploy it from your Miradore site. In addition, please note that while being tracked, the devices will also consume more device battery.

How to enable location tracking for iOS

Location tracking can be enabled on desired iOS devices using Configuration profiles.

There is no global setting to enable location tracking for all devices. Tracking devices and/or employees is prohibited in some countries or collective agreements. Therefore, it is the administrator's responsibility to check whether location tracking can or should be used in your organization.

1. Navigate to Mobile management > Configuration profiles where you can see the list of current configuration profiles.

2. Click the Create configuration profile from the page Actions menu. After that, a wizard should open on top of the window.

Select the device platform and click Next. The platform selection determines which device platform the configuration profile is intended to be used for. Select iOS.

Minimum data update interval defines how often location updates are reported to the server.

Minimum distance change defines a threshold of how many meters the location of the device has to change before it receives location updates.

Please note that when using small values the device receives location updates more frequently which also consumes more battery.

The above settings do not apply when Miradore Client has been terminated or the device has been rebooted and the application is not running. In this scenario, the location of the device must change significantly before the client is launched by iOS to report the location.

5. Finally define the Name and Description for the configuration profile and press Create.

6. In the last screen of the wizard, you'll see a notification which tells you whether the configuration profile was successfully created. You may exit the wizard by clicking Close.

7. Once the location tracking configuration profile has been created, administrators can deploy it to desired iOS devices. See more in Deploying a configuration profile for further information. When the profile is deployed and successfully installed, the Miradore Client is installed from the App Store. For non-supervised iOS devices the end-user must accept the installation.

Once the Miradore Client has been installed, the end-user must start the application once and accept the request to use location services and push notifications.

The client then registers to Miradore and starts to collect and report location data to the server.

In case you need to modify the configuration profile settings, just navigate to Mobile management > Configuration profiles page and double-click on the location tracking profile. This opens the configuration profile page.

How to view iOS device location

Once location tracking has been enabled for the selected iOS devices, the current device location can be seen by navigating to Mobile management > Devices and by opening the device page.

On the Main tab, the map on the top-right corner is centered to the last known location of the device.

The Main tab also contains general information about the installed Miradore Client.

Version

Version of the client.

Location tracking

Defines if the Miradore Client can send location updates to the server. Possible values are:

Enabled: Location tracking is enabled and fully functioning.

Enabled with warnings: Location tracking is enabled but not working properly because the device does not support significant location changes or background data transfer is not allowed.

Disabled: Miradore client is unable to send location updates to the server. For example, when location services are disabled or the Miradore Client has not been authorized to use location services.

Push notifications

Defines if the Miradore Client can receive push notifications. When enabled, an administrator can start the Sync now action from the page action menu to refresh the location and the Miradore Client inventory data. In addition, you can send a message to the device end-user by starting the Send message action. When the user clicks the received notification, the Miradore Client is started and location data is updated immediately to the server.

Last reported location data is also visible in Inventory tab > Location table

Latitude

Latitude value of the last known location.

Longitude

Longitude value of the last known location.

Location reported

Time of the location fix. In other words, when the location fix (latitude, longitude) was recorded on the actual device (not when it was imported to the server). This time is also visible on the map.

In addition, the server tries to reverse geocode latitude and longitude values into:

Street address

Zip code

City and

Country

Geocoded location data can contain errors but hopefully gives the best textual approximation about the device location.

Inventory tab also contains more detailed information from the installed Miradore Client.

Version

Version of the client.

Last connection

Shows the Miradore Client's last connection time.

Location service

Defines if location services are enabled. The location service status can be used to check whether the end-user has disabled the location service from the device. If location data is not received from the device the main reason is most likely that location services has been disabled from the phone.

Defines if background data transfer is enabled. i.e. Whether the client may be launched or resumed in the background to handle significant location changes and remote notifications.

Authorization status

Defines if the user has authorized Miradore Client to use location services.

Application status

Defines the current application state for the Miradore Client. i.e. Whether the client is running or has been terminated. The status can be updated with the Sync now action.

Push notifications

Defines if the Miradore Client can receive push notifications.

Location history data is saved for 3 months

Miradore stores historical device locations for three months. To see a device's location history, go to the device page, maximize the map and set date filters for showing the location history.

How to view multiple device locations

Location data from multiple devices can be examined by navigating to Mobile management > Map.

The devices that have either location tracking data (Blue marker) or a manually assigned location (Grey marker) available are drawn on the map. The blue balloon depicts a group of devices. Zoom-in or click the group to view device locations. Clicking the marker will open device page of the target device.

How to disable location tracking from iOS devices

Location tracking can be disabled by simply deleting the deployed configuration profile from the device. This can be done by opening the device page and clicking the trashcan icon in the Configuration profiles table. See Removing deployed configuration profiles for more information.